Facts of Life star Mindy Cohn details painful cancer fight: 'I kept it secret for a long time'

The Facts of Life actress Mindy Cohn is opening up about her five-year cancer battle.

Diagnosed in 2012, the '80s sitcom star -- who played Natalie Green on the long-running series -- has recounted her harrowing cancer fight to People, revealing she kept her illness secret for a "long time".

Mindy, now 51, says the shock diagnosis forced her to step away from her Hollywood career and recuperate on a friend's 60-acre farm outside Sharon Springs, New York.

Image: Getty

Over the next five years, she underwent multiple treatments including a double mastectomy, chemotherapy, and radiation.

And despite revealing to the publication she is finally cancer-free, she admits that period of her life took its toll on her physically and emotionally.

"I’ve always been an optimist," she says. "But the cancer metastasised. It kept spreading and coming back. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, and then it would. And then I’d wait for another shoe to drop, and it would."

She added, "I was frustrated and enraged. I couldn’t control any of this. I couldn’t fix it."

After The Facts of Life went off the air in 1988, Mindy landed multiple television roles and went on to voice Velma on the rebooted What’s New, Scooby-Doo for more than a decade.

Today, she's looking forward to a trip to Machu Pichu with friends and getting back to Hollywood.

"I’m feeling great," she says. "And I’m so ready to get back to working. I think I’m a good actress, and I have a lot to offer. I’m excited to see what I get to do next!"